The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Known spark ignition engines introduce a fuel/air mixture into each cylinder which is compressed in a compression stroke and ignited by a spark plug. Known compression ignition engines inject pressurized fuel into a combustion cylinder near top dead center (‘TDC’) of the compression stroke which ignites upon injection. Combustion for both gasoline engines and diesel engines involves premixed or diffusion flames controlled by fluid mechanics.
An engine configured for spark ignition can be adapted to operate in a homogeneous charge compression ignition (‘HCCI’) mode, also referred to as controlled auto-ignition combustion, under predetermined speed/load operating conditions. The controlled auto-ignition combustion comprises a distributed, flameless, auto-ignition combustion process that is controlled by oxidation chemistry. An engine operating in the HCCI mode has an intake charge that is preferably homogeneous in composition, temperature, and residual exhaust gases at intake valve closing time. Controlled auto-ignition combustion is a distributed kinetically-controlled combustion process with the engine operating at a dilute fuel/air mixture, i.e., lean of a fuel/air stoichiometric point, with relatively low peak combustion temperatures, resulting in low NOx emissions. The homogeneous fuel/air mixture minimizes occurrences of rich zones that form smoke and particulate emissions.
When an engine operates in the HCCI mode, the engine control comprises lean air/fuel ratio operation with the throttle wide open to minimize engine pumping losses. When the engine operates in the spark-ignition combustion mode, the engine control comprises stoichiometric air/fuel ratio operation, with the throttle valve controlled over a range of positions from 0% to 100% of the wide-open position to control intake airflow to achieve the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. It is known that combustion in each cylinder can vary significantly due to differences in individual fuel injector characteristics and other factors in a multi-cylinder HCCI engine.